A November 21st TechCrunch article discussed the recent equity funding raised by Genalyte, a competitor of Theranos in the blood diagnostics space. The round, led by Kholsa Ventures and Redmile Group, will fund clinical trials of the company’s Maverick Detection Platform. The system uses a proprietary silicon chip containing photonic microring sensors to detect diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.
In an effort to avoid the missteps taken by Theranos in clinical trials, Genalyte’s CEO Cary Gunn plans to take it slow. The company aims to introduce the technology in a “near-patient” setting where doctors can run diagnostics on a prick of blood right at their practice and deliver results in minutes rather than patients visiting an outside lab and waiting days for results.
“[The industry] wants to see data. They want to see studies done and they want to see results and that’s the way we are engaging with them and that’s something that takes time,” Gunn says. “It’s not always the sexiest thing for the print media.”
